On Saturday, Dutch coach Guus Hiddink will lead the team in a face-off against Macedonia in Moscow, to be followed four days later by a match against the English squad in London, the outcome of which will determine a great deal.
Hiddink has let it be known that he intends to apply his signature aggressive style in both upcoming games, going on the attack in the very first minutes of the match.
Still, no amount of strategizing will be able to compensate for the absence of forward Ivan Saenko, a member of Germany's Nuremberg club, injured during training Thursday.
As to the readiness of the other players, Hiddink has characterized it as excellent. Among Russian footballers of late returned from foreign clubs to play on the national team are Alexander Kerzhakov, with Sevilla, and Udinese midfielder Viktor Budyanskovo.
The Russian team, which is playing in Group E, is in third place with 15 points. The leader is currently Croatia, with 17 points, and number two is Israel, also with 17. Fourth place is held by England.
The game against Macedonia is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. Moscow time (3:00 p.m. GMT).
The line-up as it currently stands includes:
Goalkeepers: Vyacheslav Malafeyev (Zenit St Petersburg), Vladimir Gabulov (Kuban Krasnodar), Anton Shunin (Dynamo Moscow)
Defenders: Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Alexei Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Vasily Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Alexander Anyukov (Zenit St Petersburg), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo Moscow), Ivan Taranov (CSKA Moscow)
Midfielders: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Igor Semshov (Dynamo Moscow), Dmitry Torbinsky (Spartak Moscow), Vladimir Bystrov (Spartak Moscow), Konstantin Zyryanov (Zenit St Petersburg), Viktor Budyansky (Udinese), Roman Vorobyev (FK Khimki)
Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow), Dmitry Sychev (Lokomotiv Moscow), Alexander Kerzhakov (Sevilla), Ivan Saenko (Nuremberg).
